In the wake of being found guilty of the charge of grievous bodily harm by a Munich court, Adrian Sutil has lashed out at the lack of support offered by Lewis Hamilton, apparently branding the McLaren driver – with whom he shared a close friendship for many years – “a coward”.

Hamilton was subpoenaed – and refused – to attend the hearing as a key witness in the Sutil’s defence of the charges laid by Lotus F1 executive Eric Lux. Ostensibly his absence may have been due to the close proximity of the court case with the launch of the 2012 McLaren F1 challenger, which is set to occur today.

Sutil was found guilty of the downgraded assault charges stemming from an incident in a Shanghai nightclub, where he ‘glassed’ Lux in the neck with a champagne flute, leaving the Luxembourg businessman with a gash in his neck that required twenty-four stitches.

Despite security footage used in evidence showing that Hamilton was sitting right next to Sutil at the time of the altercation with Lux, the Englishman denied any recollection of the scuffle in a written statement that was read to the court in his absence.

According to reports in the German press, Sutil is livid with Hamilton’s snub.

“Lewis is a coward,” he is quoted as saying by the Bild newspaper.

“I don’t want to be friends with someone like that. If you ask me, he’s not a man. Even his father sent me a text message, wishing me the best of luck for the hearing.

“From Lewis, nothing. He even changed his number so I couldn’t reach him,” Sutil added.

While it’s perhaps inappropriate to comment without knowing Hamilton’s side of the story, this is still a juicy story, particularly given the mystery surrounding Hamilton’s absence and his pathetic testimony. One would have hoped that a friendship would have been worth something.

If this is how he treats his friends, then one would hate to be his enemy…